


Meeting the Family

by Shadowbeast123



Category: Sing (2016)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-12
Updated: 2017-09-15
Packaged: 2018-11-13 01:37:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 6,778
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11174307
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shadowbeast123/pseuds/Shadowbeast123
Summary: Johnny has to introduce his niece to both of his families after a news reporter rats him out.





	1. Secret's Out

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah, the first version of this story that I had up was taking a drastic nosedive, so I re-uploaded it with the one on my Wattpad account...Enjoy.
> 
> Also, I am doing the same thing on Fanfiction.net. I'm just waiting 'til tomorrow to upload it.

As much as Johnny loved his cousin Terri, he could not believe she would pull a stunt like this. He couldn't believe she would neglect her baby because, and he was quoting his cousin here: "Juna cries too much". And he could understand the constant crying from a baby being a bit overwhelming to some new parents; he couldn't even think of what Rosita went through when she had her twenty-five kids. But that did not give Terri a reason to neglect Juna for so long, that a lot of her fur fell out from malnutrition, and then leave her on a train like this with a horrible ear infection that was so bad that the doctor said if he hadn't caught it in time, the infection would have spread and caused major problems.

Thankfully, Johnny convinced Child Services to give Juna to him. And he had been taking care of her for the last few months. And during that time her fur grew back, she gained weight, and her ear infection pretty much cleared up. And she got a lot of cuddles.

Now if only he could get through his interview with a reporter from the local paper without Juna throwing a fit. Because the reporter was supposed to be coming over while Juna took her mid-day nap, but whenever he would leave to make sure everything was in order, she'd start crying; and Johnny didn't want the reporter finding out about her, because although he had been taking care of her for the last few months, no one else knew about her.

When he had first taken Juna in, Johnny was still in high school, and wasn't really in much of a spot to leave school to take care of her; but thankfully, his school did have a Child Care class that doubled as a daycare for some of the teen parents that went to school. So the teacher was more than happy to take care of Juna during the day most of the time, and on weekends, he'd take her to the park so she could play; but for the main part, he kept her existence under wraps because he didn't want people to know about her. Not only would it cause a lot of attention, but he would also have to introduce her to his dad; which, if Big Daddy were to find out about his great-niece, was not going to be a good thing. Because Marcus had a very bad tendency of becoming sidetracked; meaning if he found out Juna existed, he'd be more focused on finding her dad than helping Johnny out.

Tucking Juna in for her nap, he went downstairs again to clean up all of her toys, and make sure the living room was presentable. And he got done just in time for the reporter to come knocking on his door.

Chucking Juna's toy rabbit into the toy chest, he closed it, and answered the door to let the panther news reporter in. Thanking him for coming, and letting him sit down on the sofa before offering him a drink. And after answering the usual questions a reporter may ask, the panther, whose name was Ryan Mane, left; and Juna started crying not two seconds later because she wanted the bunny Johnny put in the toy chest.

Getting the rabbit out of the toy chest, Johnny took it upstairs so he could give it to Juna and hopefully get her to go to sleep for her nap. Unaware that Ryan had returned to get his phone, and had come up the stairs to see Johnny reading a book to Juna to get her to sleep.

Going back downstairs before Johnny could see him, Ryan looked at his phone, and called his boss.

"Boss, it's me. I have a new story that's going to make tomorrow morning's headlines."

* * *

**~Next Day~**

"Okay Juju, open up," Johnny said, getting Juna to open her mouth so he could feed her the mushed up bananas he had on the spoon in his hand. A metallic thud sounding from the front of the house, which was the normal sign that the paper man came by with the morning paper.

Going out to the other room to get the paper, he took it out of the plastic bag that it came in, and went back to the kitchen to see Juna with banana all over her face and hands.

"Juna," he said, getting a napkin and wiping her face off. "You are such a messy little eater."

Hearing her let out a little coo because she wanted more bananas, Johnny gave her a kiss on the head, and gave her a few more pieces of mushed up banana before he opened the paper, and just about dropped his coffee mug. Because the headlines said: "Local Talent Has Secret Baby; Hides It From Public".

"Oh no," he said, feeling his coffee mug slip through his fingers while Juna ate her breakfast.


	2. Buster and Eddie

"So everything looks okay?" Johnny asked, as the doctor put Juna on a scale to weigh her.

"Everything looks good," the tiger said, writing something down on her clipboard, and giving Juna back to him. "Her weights up, her ear infection's all gone, her fur's grown back in; and she's super duper cute."

"Thank goodness," he said, breathing a sigh of relief. "I was worried there would be something else wrong with her."

"Nope, she's perfectly healthy," the doctor said, as Juna started to suck on her thumb. "I'll check on her again in another few months. But if there's any problems or anything, just give me a call."

"Okay," he said, adjusting his hold on Juna. "Thank you again Dr. Evergreen. It means a lot."

"It's no problem," she said. "Have a nice day. You too Juna."

"Wave bye-bye to the doctor Juna," Johnny said, making Juna wave her hand as they left the doctor's office. And he thought about going to the park since it was a nice day, and Juna could use the outside time. But the second he got to his truck in the parking lot, he and Juna were swarmed by reporters, camera men, and dozens of questions. And that really had Juna overwhelmed so she started crying.

"Johnny, who is the mother of your child?" a reporter asked.

"Are you ready to be a parent?" another asked.

"No comment," he said, pushing past them so he could get Juna out of there; buckling her into her carseat, and shutting the door to cross over to the driver's side.

"Are you considering putting your baby up for adoption?" another reporter asked.

"Have you thought about school yet?" one piped up.

"Is she your real daughter?" one shouted over the chaos

Okay that was going too far.

"How long have you been hiding this from the public?" the first reporter asked.

"No comment," he repeated, getting into his truck, and driving back to the garage so he could give Juna some lunch, and get ready for rehearsals. And during the few months he had Juna, he quickly learned to bring a spare change of clothes with him because Juna was still a baby, and had yet to be potty trained; so he brought a spare shirt with him just in case.

"Okay," he said out loud, once he hoped he got everything packed up. "Diapers, pacifier, spare clothes for me and the baby. What else am I forgetting?"

Hearing Juna cry from behind him, he spooned some apple sauce into her mouth, and tried to think of what else he had to bring with him besides what he had in his backpack. Because rehearsals shouldn't take more than two hours, meaning he wouldn't have to feed Juna again until after they got home. Hopefully anyway, sometimes Juna wanted more food than usual.

Once he got Juna fed, and wiped her face off again; he picked her up so they could leave, and realized she had a full diaper. So he had to go and change her. Which was very difficult because Juna liked to kick her feet when he went to change her diaper. Either that or spray the baby powder in his face. And today, she decided to do the second one to him.

"Give me that," he said, taking the baby powder from her, and putting it on her. "I have got to start keeping this in a different spot where you can't reach it."

Putting her into a clean diaper, he got her dressed again, and went to rehearsals. But not too long after he got there, he remembered what he forgot to pack up. Juna's bunny. And he knew he had to go get it because Juna started throwing a fit.

"Oh no, the headlines are true," Eddie said, seeing Juna in Johnny's arms.

"Yeah, and she's throwing a tantrum," he said, giving her over to him. "Can you watch her for a few minutes? I have to run home and get her bunny."

"Sure," Eddie said, taking Juna from him; Juna crying even louder because Johnny was leaving without her, and she had separation issues.

"I'll be right back, Juju. Be good for Eddie," he said, going back out to the truck to drive home and get the rabbit. Which didn't take long since he may or may not have broken the speed limit; and when he got back, Juna was quiet because he had cried herself into a half asleep state; only to perk back up and start making noises when she saw Johnny.

"That was fast," Eddie commented, as Johnny gave Juna her bunny, and took her back.

"It doesn't take me that long to get here from my house," he said, giving Juna a kiss on the head. "And thank you for watching her while I got her rabbit."

"It's no problem," he said.

"What was with all the screaming down here?" Buster asked, coming down the stairs from his office, and seeing Juna in Johnny's arms. "Oh no, the headlines were true."

"I can explain," he said, adjusting his hold on Juna. "And no, she is not my daughter, she's my niece. My cousin refused to take care of her, so I took her in."

"Are you sure you're ready for that?" Eddie asked. "Being a parent's a big responsibility. Even Rosita will tell you that."

"Well, I have a job, so it's not like I don't have money coming in."

"But Johnny, the press is all over this. And you're only eighteen," Buster said. "Didn't you think any of this through? What are you going to do when your family finds out about this?"

"I'll cross that bridge when I get around to it," he said. "And yes, I did think this through. And I know it's a big responsibility. But I refuse to let Juna go into foster care. And my dad raised me, and I turned out okay."

"Johnny, you just graduated high school not that long ago. Do you even know how to take care of a baby?"

"Somewhat," Johnny said. "I've been taking care of her for the last few months."

"Few mo-Months?!" Buster asked, doing the math in his head. "You still would have been in school then. What did you do when you had school and rehearsals?"

"I had a class in my school that doubled as a day care for some of the teenage parents, and when I was here, my friend Reese was watching her."

"But you're eighteen!" Buster said.

"Mr. Moon, not to be rude or ignorant. But it is my life, and I chose to take Juna in," Johnny said. "Yeah, I know I'm eighteen, and I don't know how to raise a baby that well. But I'd rather take in a member of my own family rather than let them go into the system. Who knows what kind of family they'll end up with."

"Well, I guess it's kind of hard to talk you out of something you already did," Buster said, pinching the bridge of his nose before letting out a heavy sigh, and looking at Juna. "Can I hold her?"

"Sure. Just be careful, she has a tendency to kick," he warned, giving Juna to Buster. And like he had warned, Juna started kicking, and whining for Johnny to take her back; but after a moment, she calmed down, and thought Buster was a cuddly play toy.

"I guess this isn't so bad," Buster said before he felt something wet on his shirt. "And she just peed on me."

"Sorry, she's not trained yet," Johnny said, taking Juna back so he could change her diaper again.


	3. Ash

"What do you mean you can't come over?" Johnny asked into his phone while he tried to keep Juna off the counter while he cut up some celery. Because although he did make a decent amount of money fixing cars during the day, it wasn't really enough to help him raise Juna, so he did have to get a second job at a movie theatre, and he was having extreme difficulty trying to find a sitter for her because his friend Reese had to work too.

"Look, I'm sorry. If you want to complain to someone, talk to my parents," Reese said on the other end of the phone as Johnny put the knife down. "They were the ones who said I had to run the shop today."

"Can't you make some excuse?" he asked, holding Juna back with his hand to keep her away from the sharp blade.

"Johnny, I'm still trying to convince them that you have a job," she said, before Juna started crying. "What happened?"

"Juna cut her finger," he said, getting the first aid kit and cleaning the cut. "She grabbed a knife I had sitting on the counter."

"Is she okay?"

"Yeah, she'll be fine," he said, putting a Band-Aid on Juna's finger and wiping away her tears. "It's okay sweetheart. All better."

Giving her a piece of celery, he watched as she bit into it before chopping up the rest and putting it into the pan that was on the stove.

"So you're sure you can't babysit?"

"Not today," Reese said. "Why don't you ask Ash?"

"Can't. She has a gig tonight," he said, letting Juna climb onto his shoulders, and getting an onion out of the fridge.

"What about Rosita?"

"No, I had enough trouble trying to explain to Mr. Moon why I took Juna in when we were still in school," he said, slicing the onion in half. "And she already has twenty-five kids and a workaholic husband to handle. Let alone a baby gorilla."

"Meena?"

"Out of town, and out of the question," he said. "Her grandfather saw me out with Juna once at the store, and he came after me with his cane."

"Well, I would have taken the cane over the 12 gauge shotgun my dad nearly used on you when I told him," she said.

"We said we would not speak of that," he said, giving Juna her bunny.

"Well, what about Mike?"

"You honestly expect me to trust that foul mouthed rodent with a baby gorilla?"

"Then your only other option would be Lance or Nana Noodleman," she said, making him groan.

"I don't want to leave Juna with them," he said.

"I'll call Mike."

"Lance it is then," Johnny said, putting Juna in her high chair because the onion was making her eyes water. "Hey, do you think I can drop by after work once I pick her up? We can stay in, watch a movie; I can give you a back rub."

"Yeah, I don't think my parents are going to let us hang out any time soon," Reese said to him. "But I'll see if I can sneak away to your place. And you better not wimp out on that backrub."

"I won't," he said, slicing open his own finger with the knife. "Ouch!"

* * *

**~15 minutes later~**

"Sam, get back here and put your clothes back on," Lance yelled, chasing after his nephew while his sister-in-law made dinner.

"Sammy thinks he doesn't need to wear clothes," his nephew said, referring to himself in the third person.

"Val!"

"Sammy, put your clothes back on," Valerie said, as someone knocked on the door. "Lance can you get that?"

"Just as long as you get him," he said, nodding his head at Sammy and giving his sister-in-law her son's clothes before going to answer the door to see Johnny standing there holding Juna in his arms. And Lance was actually the only other person who knew of Johnny's adopting of the baby gorilla, mainly because Juna's mother, Terri, lived two floors above him; and he had already babysat Juna on multiple occasions in the past. "Johnny, I am not going to babysit her. I have things to do. Go bug Mike."

"I am not leaving her with Mike, and I don't have time to wait and find a sitter," Johnny said. "Please, I'll pay you double."

"Johnny, I'm supposed to be at the plaza in half an hour to help Ash out after she broke her hand."

"And I have to go to work," Johnny said, making Lance roll his eyes.

"Fine," he said, taking Juna into his arms. "You so owe me."

"I know," he said, giving Lance Juna's diaper bag and giving Juna a kiss on the cheek. "I'll be right back Juju. Behave for Lance."

Seeing Johnny practically run down the hall to go to work, Lance shut the door with his foot, and sighed as Valerie chased Sammy around trying to get his clothes back on.

"Be glad you're still a baby. You don't have to deal with this nonsense yet," he said to the tiny gorilla before she got out of his arms and crawled into the bathroom to use the toilet. "Seriously? Why is it you only use the bathroom here? Everyone has one for a reason."

Seeing Juna flush the toilet, Lance picked her up so she could wash her hands, and stopped Sammy with his foot so Valerie could put his clothes back on.

"Honestly, I shouldn't have to struggle this much to dress a three year old," Valerie said, getting Sammy dressed and picking him up. "Ready to go, Lance?"

"Yeah, just give me a second to grab my guitar," he said, putting Juna down on the lid of the hamper to go get his guitar while Valerie put Sammy on a leash so she could hold Juna.

* * *

**~30 minutes later~**

"Sammy, you are not getting any ice cream," Valerie said, pulling her son away from the ice cream stand with Juna in her other arm, and a diaper bag over her shoulder. "Heaven knows how much sugar you eat on a normal basis."

"But mom," Sammy whined.

"No buts," Valerie said, sitting down next to her son with Juna on her lap as Ash and Lance came onto the stage. And unsurprisingly, the crowd booed Lance.

"Get him off the stage!" someone from the audience shouted before launching a beer can at him.

"Screw you!" Lance shouted, making Ash bop him on the head with her microphone.

"Guys, I know Lance here can be a huge jerk. But I kinda need him," Ash said, holding up her casted hand, and hearing the audience go quiet. "But now that we got that out of the way. How are all of you tonight?!"

Hearing the crowd start cheering, Valerie redirected Juna's attention to the stage and grabbed Sammy's leash to keep him in one spot while Lance and Ash performed. And for once, Lance didn't try hogging the spot light.

Walking up to the stage once the concert was over, Valerie felt herself fly forward because Sammy took off to give his uncle a hug, and let go of the leash so she could catch herself because Juna was still in her arms.

"Sammy, slow down," Lance called, trying to get his nephew to slow down before Sammy tackled him and accidentally kneed him in the crotch. "Ow."

"Well Sammy, you've definitely got a lot taller since the last time I saw you," Ash commented as Lance tried to recover from his nephew's knee before she spotted Juna. "Aw, who's this?"

"This is Juna," Valerie said.

"Johnny's kid," Sammy said.

"What? Since when did Johnny have a baby? I don't even recall him having a girlfriend."

"Adopted kid," Lance said. "Her mother's one of Johnny's relatives. And because she refused to care for Juna, Johnny got her."

"Why does that not surprise me?" Ash said, taking Juna from Valerie so she could get ahold of Sammy. "Hey Juna."

"I'd be careful with her," Lance warned. "She'll pee on anyone she doesn't like."

"Don't jinx it Lance," Valerie said, giving him Sammy's leash. "You hold him."

"Here Sammy, go buy yourself an ice cream," Ash said, giving Sammy some money and making the three year old bolt to the ice cream stand with Lance in tow.

"Are you sure that was a good idea?" Valerie asked before Lance crashed into a trashcan.

"Worth every penny," Ash said, before turning her head back to Juna, and kissing her cheek. "You are so cute."

"Yeah, she's a sweetheart," Valerie said, seeing Lance struggle to keep Sammy from cutting in line. "Samuel V. Vaughn! I'm sorry Ash, but can you please?"

"Fine," she sighed, giving Juna back. "Bye, bye Juna."

Seeing Juna wave her hand, Valerie smiled and went to go rescue her brother in law before her son killed him. "Samuel!"


	4. Filler Chapter

"Lance, for the last time; I'm sorry I didn't tell you I was having company over," Johnny said into his phone while he waited for the guard that usually checked him for weapons at the prison so he could visit his dad. Still apologizing to Lance because when the porcupine showed up at the garage to give Juna back, he walked in on him giving Reese a back rub, and was a bit taken aback since Reese wasn't wearing a shirt at that exact moment.

Hanging up on Lance before he could start arguing again, he yawned hugely and rubbed his eyes. Because after the initial embarrassment of Lance walking in on him, Juna got extremely fussy because she was tired; but just his luck, she wouldn't settle down to go to sleep. Meaning he and Reese were up all night trying to get her to do so.

Seeing one of the guards come over, Johnny put his phone away and went through the routine security check he always went through when he came to visit his dad. Sitting down in one of the phone booths and waiting while they went to get Big Daddy out of his cell. And he knew he fell asleep at some point, because the next thing he knew, his dad was tapping on the glass and calling out to him.

"I'm up!" he said, jolting awake and looking at his dad. "Uh...hi dad."

"Yeah, hi," Marcus said, seeing Johnny hold back a yawn. "What's with you? Every time I've seen you the last few months, you've been either sleeping or really tired."

"Sorry," he yawned. "I've just been busy. What with work, the theatre, Roscoe riding my behind because I missed a meeting with a record producer."

"Wait, what?" Marcus asked. "You have someone looking to give you your own album. Why on earth would you miss that meeting?"

"Certain reasons," Johnny said, not really wanting to tell his dad about Juna because he knew he'd get the lecture of making too big of a leap with adopting her at eighteen.

"Okay, I'll bite," Marcus said. "Who's the girl?"

"What makes you think there's a girl involved?" he asked, looking at his dad with wide brown eyes.

"What other reason would you have for missing a meeting with a record producer?" his dad said.

"A few," he said, looking down at the floor; having missed the aforementioned meeting because Juna had a fever that day, and he wasn't able to find a sitter.

"Johnny," Marcus said. "What aren't you telling me?"

"Promise not to get mad?"

"Why would I get mad?" he asked.

Knowing he wouldn't be able to hide this any longer, Johnny took a deep breath and looked at his dad again.

"Terri had a baby," he said, making his dad's face go from confused to a blank stare.

"Terri?" he asked. "Your cousin Terri? Barry's only daughter, who the last time I checked wasn't even sixteen yet, had a baby?"

"Yeah," he said. "And I've been taking care of it for the last few months. Terri refused to do so, and nearly starved her. Her name's Juna, and-"

"You knew about this?" he asked, getting angry.

"I didn't even know until Child Services came to the shop," he said, raising his hands up as his dad's jaw clenched tightly in anger before Marcus took a deep breath.

"Why didn't you tell me before?" he asked.

"Because you either would have broken out to find Juna's dad, or given me a lecture about raising a kid at eighteen," Johnny said. "And I missed my meeting because she had a fever, and I couldn't find a sitter."

"What about your music?" his dad asked. "Are you really going to give that all up?"

"Now you're starting to sound like Roscoe," Johnny said. "And no, I'm not giving up on my music."

"So you really think you can raise a baby, and make a career out of your music?" his dad asked.

"It's worked so far," he shrugged. "And technically, I don't have full custody of her. It's just until Terri completes a parenting class, or I sign the adoption papers."

"You're not going to keep her, are you?" Marcus said. "Because you're fresh out of high school. And you know how Miranda's going to treat this situation when she finds out you have her."

"I know," Johnny said. "But I don't want Juna going into the system either. It was the main reason I took her in."

"You really think you can keep her and your work balanced?" his dad asked.

"At least until I can find someone I know will be a good fit for her," he said.

"Alright," he said. "If you say so. But do me a favor and try to get some more sleep."

"Trust me, I'll be taking a nap when I get home," he said before he saw the guard standing behind his dad hold up his watch. Telling him that his ten minutes was almost up. "But enough about me. What's new with you?"

* * *

**~Later~**

"Juna, hold still," Reese said, trying to dry Juna off with a towel after having given her a bath to try and get her to relax and go to sleep. Which was not working. "I swear, you are too young to be experiencing insomnia like this."

Hearing Juna whine, she sighed and took Juna into Johnny's room to get her dressed. Hearing the phone ring downstairs in the office before she let Juna climb onto her shoulders so she could go downstairs and answer it.

"Big Daddy's Auto Garage," she said into the receiver. "Big Daddy isn't able to come to the phone right now. Please leave a message."

"Where is he?" a gruff voice asked on the other end of the phone.

"Oh, hey Roscoe," she said, rolling her eyes at the voice of Johnny's "agent". And she used the term loosely on Roscoe because he was not really qualified to be anyone's agent for anything. He was just an old family friend of Marcus' trying to steal Johnny's spotlight. "Johnny's unable to come to the phone either."

"Well, tell him to meet me at Shadow & Bill Records in ten minutes. We have a meeting and time is money," he said before he hung up. Making Reese groan because Johnny did have a phone too.

"Be happy you're still little," she said to Juna before calling Johnny.

"Hey Reese, what's going on?"

"Johnny, I am not your secretary. Explain that to Roscoe when you meet him at Shadow & Bill Records in ten minutes."

"Oh crap! I'm late," he said. "Thanks for the reminder, Reese. I'll see you when I get back."

Hanging up on him, Reese took Juna off her shoulders and tried to get the baby gorilla to take a nap. But Juna just couldn't sleep; and she wasn't gassy or hungry, she didn't have a fever or anything. She was just unable to sleep, and extremely tired.

"I know Juna bug, I know," she said, hearing Juna start crying. "I'm tired too."

Giving Juna her bunny, Reese laid down on the sofa and turned on the TV. Letting an old re-run of 'Boy Meets World' play in the background while she rubbed Juna's back with the baby gorilla in question snuggled up on her chest.


	5. Filler Chapter

"Reese, I'm back," Johnny called, entering the garage and going into the living room to see Reese passed out on the sofa. But Juna was sitting on the kitchen floor with pudding all over her face after having gotten into a pudding cup. "Oh, Juna."

Picking up his niece, he closed the fridge, and tried to wipe her face off. But Juna was so happy he was home, she kissed his cheek and smeared pudding all over his face.

"Thanks Juna," he said, wiping his cheek, and picking up the pudding cup to toss it out in the trash.

"I'm awake," Reese snorted, waking up from her nap and seeing Johnny in the kitchen doorway with Juna in his arms. "Oh, you're home. How was your meeting?"

"Exhausting," he said, sitting down on the couch. "I had a harder time staying awake during the meeting than I did talking with my dad earlier."

"Speaking of your dad," she said, grabbing a tissue and wiping the pudding off Juna's nose. "You tell him about Juna yet?"

"Yeah," he said, trying to get Juna to go to sleep.

"And how'd he take it?"

"Surprisingly well," he said. "He's still angry that Terri got pregnant before she turned sixteen, but I think that as long as I don't tell him I took her in when we were still in school, I'll be fine."

Hearing Juna start whining again, both the older gorillas let out a sigh of defeat because they had never had this much difficulty getting her to sleep.

"Any other ideas?" she asked.

"Reese, at this point. I'm too tired to even think of anything else that will get her to sleep," he said, hearing someone knock on the door. "Can you get that?"

"Alright," she said, getting up the from the couch, and going to answer to the door. Only to see Johnny's aunt standing there. "Oh for the love of-Hello Miranda."

"Where is he?" she asked. "I know he's here. The courts left her with him."

"Barry's not here, and Johnny's busy trying to get her to take a nap. Goodbye," she said, slamming the door in Miranda's face. Only for her to stick her hand in the way, and force the door back open before going to where Johnny was in the living room.

"What are you doing here Miranda?" he asked, giving Juna her bunny, and keeping a close eye on his aunt since Miranda did work for the state in rehoming kids from abusive or neglectful homes, and was Terri's mom. So he knew she was going to try to take Juna away from him.

"I just wanted to see how you're doing," she said. "Seeing as you are watching _my_ granddaughter. Odds are you may be a little overwhelmed. What with the baby, and work, and your music career."

"What are you getting at?" he asked.

"I want you to give Juna back to Terri," she said. "She really misses her. And with your career, I don't think the life as a musician's daughter is a good thing for her."

"Absolutely not," he said to her. "Terri has yet to attend that parenting class they signed her up for. And just because I want to be a musician does not mean I'll be any less of a guardian to Juna."

"But you're eighteen," she argued. "Surely you have some sort of big dreams to fulfill as a musician. Ones that'll be put on hold if you keep Juna."

"And Terri's not even sixteen yet, and she had a baby. So no, I am not giving Juna to you," Johnny said. "Now please leave. She's been up all night, and Reese and I have been trying to get her to sleep all day."

"Johnny, you have to think about this," Miranda said before Reese pushed her out of the building.

"Bye Miranda," she said, slamming the door in her face, and locking it.

"This isn't over!" she shouted from outside, as Reese sat down next to Johnny. "I'll be back! And I'll make sure that Terri gets her baby!"

"Is she always like this?" Reese asked.

"Reese, you're talking about a woman who wanted me away from my dad so badly, she falsely accused him of child abuse on three separate occasions," he said. "Yes, she is always like that."

"And you're not worried about her coming back for Juna?"

"Unless she has evidence that I'm a bad guardian, or anyone's dumb enough to believe her. I don't think she'll do anything," he said, looking down at Juna and seeing that she was finally asleep.

"Finally," she whispered, as Johnny slowly got up to put Juna in her bed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, I am calling the chapters where Johnny doesn't introduce Juna to his theatre and real families 'Filler Chapters', because I don't know what else to call them at the moment, and I don't want to keep them titled by numbers.


	6. Gunter

"Reese, I am so, so sorry this happened," Johnny said as he and Reese sat in the Emergency Room, Juna staying with Ash for the day since he couldn't really watch her and fix cars at the same time, and he had to run out of the garage to meet Reese at the hospital. Because her car broke down on the way to a job interview, and he had let her take the truck; which he soon found out, had extremely faulty brakes, ergo the hospital visit because she got into an accident. "I should have known the brakes on the truck were worn out."

"It's fine," Reese said, holding a blood soaked tissue to her eyebrow. "The worst that can happen is I have to get stitches, and stay off my feet for a while. Right now, I'm more worried about how you're going to fix the truck."

"And I'm more worried about how your parents are going to take this," he said. "Remember what happened the last time we ended up in the hospital together?"

"You mean six months ago when you first visited Juna? Yeah, I remember," she said, leaning back in her chair, and wincing.

"Are you okay?" he asked, knowing she had a concussion from the crash. "Do you feel like you're going to get sick?"

"No, I'm just really dizzy," she said, feeling Johnny put a hand on hers. "Where's Juna?"

"She's with Ash," he said. "I kind of had to run out of the garage after you called. And I figured I'd let the two get to know each other before Lance starts to teach her bad habits."

"Reese!" her mom shouted.

"Honey, are you okay?" her dad asked, as Johnny took his hand away, and made eye contact with him. "You."

"Dad, don't. It wasn't his fault," Reese said, as a nurse stepped out from the other room.

"I'll take whoever's next," the gazelle called.

"I better get back to the shop," Johnny said, standing up to leave with Reese's parents giving him a death glare the entire time. "I'll call you later when you get home. Try to take it easy."

"Okay," she said, feeling Johnny kiss her cheek before he left.

"I hate him," her mom said.

* * *

~ **Meanwhile~**

"Juna, I can't let you out of the stroller," Ash said, pushing Juna around in a stroller at the mall because she couldn't really carry Juna like Johnny could. But at the same time, Juna hated being in the stroller because she wanted to run around and explore. So needless to say, Juna was throwing a fit.

Feeling her phone go off in her pocket, she fished it out, and saw Johnny's number on the screen before she answered.

"Hey Johnny," she said, taking Juna upstairs to the food court so they could get some lunch. "How's Reese?"

"She'll be fine, her parents are with her now, and I had to go back to the garage to get back to work," he said as Ash tried to pick a restaurant to eat at; unaware that Juna had gotten out of her stroller and toddled away until she looked back at the stroller.

"Oh no," she gasped.

"What? What's going on?" Johnny asked, as Ash frantically tried to find Juna.

"Uh..." she stammered, hearing a mechanical scream from a Halloween decoration in one of the stores, and seeing Juna fall backwards onto the floor out of fear because it was one that jumped out at anyone who set it off. Juna running back towards her, and cowering behind her. "Nothing, nothing. I just thought I lost my wallet is all."

"Oh," he said. "Alright then. How's Juna?"

"Taking a nap," she lied, trying to calm Juna down before she could start crying. "Uh, listen. I have a call on the other line. I'll have to call you back."

"Alright," he said. "I'll see you in a bit."

Hanging up her phone, Ash sighed, and picked Juna up to try to console her.

"It's okay, Juna. It won't hurt you," she said, wiping away her tears. "I am the worst babysitter ever."

Hearing someone else scream at the decoration, Ash looked over and saw Lance getting up from the floor; trying not to laugh as she rubbed Juna's back.

"See Juna, you're not the only one scared of a Halloween decoration."

"I know you saw that!" Lance called.

Putting Juna back into her stroller, she got them some lunch from one of the pizza joints in the food court, and debated on whether or not to call Johnny back and just tell him the truth about what happened. But decided she'd come clean later when she gave Juna back to him.

"Aw, she's so cute," a leopard commented, as Ash took her phone back out to take a selfie with Juna. Juna immediately climbing onto her lap because Reese would do the exact same thing. But when Ash took the picture, she also caught Juna stealing the slice of pizza that she was going to feed her, and getting tomato sauce all over her face.

Posting the picture onto her Instagram, she grabbed a napkin from her tray, and wiped Juna's face off. The two of them eating the rest of their lunch in peace before she put her back in the stroller, and took her downstairs to the children's play area where Gunter was having a bit of difficulty babysitting Rosita's twenty-five kids.

"You too, huh?" she said, seeing one of the piglets throw a ball at her brother from the ball pit.

"Yes," he said. "And it's a lot harder than it looks. What are you doing here?"

"Watching over Johnny's baby," she said, pointing to Juna...Who had wandered off again. "D'OH!"

"There she is," Gunter said, pointing over at the line of parents that were gathered up for auditions for a peanut butter commercial. Juna sitting away from the line, eating the peanut butter that was on the table while the wolf and tiger that were holding the auditions pointed at her, and talked to each other.

"Juna!" Ash shouted, running out of the play area, and picking her up. "Don't run off like that. You scared me."

"Is she your daughter?" the wolf asked.

"No, I'm just her sitter," she said, seeing the wild dog grin.

"She's adorable," he said as Ash wiped the peanut butter off her face. "Winston King, media producer for Portage Farms Peanut Butter. Would you be interested in putting her in a commercial?"

"She would love to," Gunter said, making her look at him.

"Great," Winston said, giving Ash his card. "Here's my card. Call me if you have any questions."

"I knew it," someone from the line said, that someone being Becky because Lance was babysitting Sammy again, and she was talking to the lady in front of her. "Ash was throwing herself at Johnny."

"Gunter," she said, making eye contact with Becky. "Hold the baby."


End file.
